Chapter 10

Deathly Plans

Cynder opened her eyes slowly. Pain erupted on the side of her head. It was probably the punch from Glumshanks, she thought.

"So you are awake once more," said the voice. Cynder turned her neck and saw the dark figure in the corner again.

He had his front paws crossed in front of him. The hood was once again drawn up around of his head.

"You're back again, are you?" Cynder grumbled.

"What, you don't enjoy my company, young Cynder?" asked the dark figure. "I thought that you enjoyed it. Hm, this can be arranged, you know."

Fear made its way into Cynder's heart at hearing this. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that I could manipulate your mind right now without so much as touching you." Cynder's throat tightened and her heart started pumping fast. "But, I probably won't do such a thing, so be thankful."

Cynder gulped and felt a tiny bit of relief seep through her body. Her eyes closed a little.

"You look so weary," the dark figure continued. "Allow me to make you more comftorable." He called for Glumshanks and told him to loosen the chain around her neck. Once it was done, he ordered the goblin away. "There, that's better isn't it? It's the least I could do for you, Cynder. After all, you've done so much for me."

"I haven't done anything for you, you big dumb monster!" Cynder interrupted. She felt tears in her eyes.

"Don't cry, Cynder. As I've told you before, you will find the true meaning of your life soon enough."

Cynder shook her head. "Even though you've said that twice now, I still don't get what you mean. Tell me who you are! You said that you knew me as an egg! I want to know how!"

"I don't have to explain myself all the time, Cynder," he said to her.

Cynder tried to use her breath attack, but it was totally useless.

"Why in the heck can't I use my electricity?" she bursted out.

"The chain around your neck prevents you or anybody else from using any elemental attack on it. It's just the way I made it, you know?"

Cynder sighed and put her head on her front paws, careful not to put her head on the sharp spikes on the bracers on her paws.

As she fell asleep, she could hear a deep laugh.

Suddenly she was soaring over the castle, the wind at a very high speed. A river shimmered below her. She sped toward a portal in the middle of the sky. She entered the portal.

Then she saw that she was in a realm that held some strange type of element. In the middle of the realm was an altar. There stood a huge purple dragon with yellow eyes, no pupils and five horns on his head, one in the middle, and two on each side.

His lips were curled in a snarl. Another, much smaller purple dragon was standing in front of the larger one, standing in a defensive stance.

She prepared to land on the altar, her large wings buffeting large gusts of wind toward the two combatants. As she landed, she shot a blast of dark fire at the smaller purple dragon. He dodged, and then shot three fireballs up at her. Cynder rolled up into a ball and encased herself in a ball of dark flames.

When she hit the altar, a shockwave of dark fire shot out.

The small purple dragon was hit, and he flew towards the edge. He almost fell off, but was able to latch onto the edge and pulled himself up. It was then that Cynder noticed the other portal in the middle of the altar.

The larger purple dragon then shouted something at her and Cynder felt a pain in her shoulder as something collided with it.

Blood streamed down her shoulder. The small purple dragon flew in front of her. Cynder snarled and swiped at him, then tried to lash him with her tail.

She missed, though, and turning to her side exposed the soft flesh there. The smaller purple dragon took his chance, and raked her flesh with his sharp claws. His teeth bared in a grimace, the larger purple dragon ran forward and took the smaller one in his jaws and threw him at the edge of the altar again. He was able to catch himself in midair, though, and shot another three fireballs at Cynder and the larger dragon.

Though the larger dragon was too slow and was hit by one of the fireballs, Cynder dodged the other two and dashed at the small purple dragon. She rose up and unleashed a fury of dark fire and dark electricity combined at the small purple dragon. He was hit by the blast and collapsed to the ground. Cynder could see that he was still breathing and moved forward, ready to end the puny dragon's life.

But before she could do anything, the small purple dragon jumped up and slashed Cynder's chest. Rage overtook the sense of pain the slash had left her with, and she slashed back. She missed again.

The small purple dragon sped at the large purple dragon and latched himself onto his neck. He slashed and bit, causing blood to gush out. The blood sprayed onto Cynder's face and dripped onto the ground.

Cynder seemed to disappear for a moment as she dashed at the small and large purple dragon. She appeared again at the large dragon's side, looking for a place to sink her teeth into the small purple dragon without hurting her master.

She raised her paw, claws, unsheathed, and swatted the small purple dragon off her master's neck.

When the small dragon landed, Cynder heard a snap, and the small purple dragon screamed in pain. He tried to stand up, but it seemed that one of his front legs were broken, as he began to wobble and fell back down.

He finally was able to fly upward. Cynder decided to aim for a wing next so that the small dragon would be unable to fly and she could move in for the final blow, the death blow.

He flew around her head and swiped at her neck. Hot blood flowed down her neck, and she also screamed in true agony.

The large purple dragon tried to hit the smaller one, but he was less successful than Cynder had been in swatting the small purple dragon off.

Rage kept boiling Cynder's blood and she wanted so badly to just kill the small dragon.

In a final attempt, she released another fury, which succeeded in hitting the small purple dragon.

Cynder felt a tremble beneath her. She looked down, and to her horror, she saw that the altar was beginning to break apart.

Cracks spread in the stone surface. Both purple dragons seemed not to notice and engaged in another battle of their own. The very altar itself seemed to shake in the wake of their titanic struggle. It was fire against fire, Cynder observed carefully.

The flames of the small purple dragon were red-orange, while her master's was a dark purple, like her fire and her electricity.

Cynder moved forward and snapped at the small dragon. He was able to dodge again and swiped at her. Cynder took this chance to jump behind him. She snaked her head forward and sunk her teeth into his neck. She shook him from side to side and then, finally, she felt the small dragon's neck snap in her jaws. She released him and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Her master took a glance at the body of the dragon to make sure he was dead. When he was sure, a cold, deep laugh entered Cynder's ears.

Cynder woke with a start. She could feel sweat rolling down her face. The laugh still rang in her ears. She looked around and again saw the dark figure. He was laughing.

"Did you just do that to me?" she cried to him.

The dark figure, still laughing, answered, "Yes, I did. When you fell asleep, I decided to manipulate your mind to make you think that you killed the dragon you love."

Cynder was in true disbelief. Why did the dark figure do this to her? She didn't deserve it!

"I don't deserve this!" she said. "I just wanted to sleep! I wanted to have a nice, good sleep, and do so without any of my dreams!"

"You have had dreams like this before?" he asked.

"Yes, and that dream was the newest, and it's the one that I never want to see again!"

"Well, you should know that I am able to manipulate your mind at will, Cynder, and I will do so whenever I want. You can't stop me, and you don't have the right to."

What the heck does he mean? Cynder thought. "What do you mean that I don't have the right to?"

"I don't have to explain myself, you know, Cynder."

"Well, I want you to. If you don't, then I swear, I will break this chain and electrocute you until the day you die, which will be mine and the entire world's salvation."

"Well, salvation for you is probably very hard to come by, isn't it, Cynder? After all, that dark past and everything is weighing down on you. Soon enough, you will no longer be able to take it. It will consume you."

Cynder didn't believe any of what the dark figure was saying to her. None of it would become true, because Spyro would never allow such a bad thing to happen to her.

The dark figure got up and said, "I must go, Cynder. Please stay where you are, I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

He moved towards the door, staying to the shadows. As he approached the door, it swung wide open for him, allowing him to stay to the shadows and not go into the light.

Cynder put her head down again. She thought of Spyro and how he was doing without her. As she drifted off to sleep again, her last thought was:

I have to escape!